Georgia football

As noted previously: Not only are we attempting to determine how good the winners are, but also the losers.

If Michigan State is truly a top-10/15 team, for example, then Oregon has itself a first-class victory. If the Spartans are a notch below, then Oregon’s win loses some juice.

Same with South Carolina (good? decent?) as it affects Texas A&M’s victory in Columbia, Stanford as it relates to USC’s victory on Saturday, and Wisconsin as it relates to LSU’s Week 1 win, etc.

Speaking of …

*** I moved LSU out of the No. 1 spot and dropped the Tigers to No. 4 for two reasons:

1. I view Oregon’s 19-point win over Michigan State and USC’s win at Stanford as higher-quality victories than LSU’s neutral-field escape over Wisconsin.

2. South Carolina’s bounce-back against East Carolina prompted me to grade Texas A&M’s win as ever-so-slightly more impressive than LSU’s victory over Wisconsin.

*** The ballot can change from week to week. In fact, the ballot has to change from week to week; it’s the only way to expunge preseason hype and misconceptions and (over time) create a ballot that wholly reflects results.

(That process takes several weeks because so few teams play meaningful games in the opening weeks. For the time being, the ballot is a combination of results and my preseason top-25.)

At this point, I’m of the view that Oregon’s win should be considered an elite win … the best of the season, in fact.

Here’s the first in-season ballot, and it requires an explanation beyond the placement of specific teams, particularly for new readers of this space.

If you’ll recall, my preseason ballot — submitted before injuries, suspensions and attrition hit the likes of Ohio State, Notre Dame and Northwestern — was a projection of where I think the teams will finish.

Once the season begins, I use the results as the basis for slotting teams in an attempt to rid the ballot of preseason hype/guesswork/misconceptions as quickly and thoroughly as possible.

That’s not as easy as it sounds, however, because many of the teams we presume to be among the best don’t play top-tier opposition until a month into the season.

In these early weeks, I’m attempting not only to evaluate the winner but also the loser. It’s not only about Florida State, Texas A&M and Alabama; it’s also about Oklahoma State, South Carolina and West Virginia.

Maybe the Mountaineers are much better than they were last year … and much better than everyone expected them to be this year … and Alabama’s win turns out to be a first-class victory.

Or maybe WVU is exactly what we thought and the Crimson Tide’s win wasn’t impressive, after all.

More substantive results this week than all previous weeks combined — at least, that’s how it feels — with three games matching ranked teams and seven ranked teams losing.

* I moved Oregon over Clemson and into the No. 2 position following the victory at Washington, which stands as the second-best win by any team thus far (behind Alabama’s victory at Texas A&M).

* The biggest climber: Missouri.

The Tigers weren’t on the ballot last week (five cupcake wins) but are slotted No. 7 this week after winning at Georgia.

Yes, that’s a big jump. But big jumps and drops are the only way to offset the inherent inaccuracies in the preseason polls. (If all moves are incremental, the end-of-season ballots can be tainted by August misconceptions.)

And yes, Georgia is riddled with injuries, but a road win over a top-10 opponent is a road win over a top-10 opponent. And the Tigers have no blemishes to offset a big jump.

Quarterback James Franklin’s injury will make it difficult to hold the top-10 position. If the Tigers start losing, their placement will be adjusted accordingly.

A synopsis of what you will read in this space this week, next week and every week through Dec. 8.

My preseason ballot was a projection of where I believe the teams will finish. Now that the season is underway, I’ll begin discarding preseason sentiment and working toward a wholly results-oriented ballot.

But because the early-season schedules are generally soft, it takes weeks to collect enough instructive results to rank 25 teams on merit alone.

In Week 1, for example, there were just two games matching ranked teams (Clemson vs. Georgia and LSU vs. TCU).

This week, there are only two: Notre Dame vs. Michigan and South Carolina vs. Georgia. (Thank goodness for the Bulldogs’ schedule.)

Submitted my ballot to the AP office earlier today, and it’s posted below with comments on each team. I’ll update with AP rankings (for comparative purposes) when the preseason poll is published Aug. 17.

During the season, I’ll follow the same approach as in the past: My ballot will be posted on the Hotline late Saturday night or early Sunday morning with an explanation of the placement of various teams.

In an attempt to limit the inevitable confusion (outrage?) about what you’ll read below — and what you’ll read through the course of the season — here’s an overview of my voting philosophy:

My preseason poll is a projection of how I think the teams will finish in January. If the preseason No. 1 is your best team – your pick to win the national championship — then it seems to follow that all the teams should be slotted according to projected finish.

(Note: The AP purposefully provides no framework for the preseason poll; everyone has his/her own system.)

Once the season starts, I’ll begin revising the ballot based on results. It takes four or five weeks for enough teams to play enough meaningful games to compile a fully results-oriented ballot.

Highlights from the final ballot of the regular season. Next one is due the night of the National Championship Game.

And please note: USA Today usually releases the coaches’ final ballost on the Monday after the season. If that’s the case, I’ll have the details (i.e., hypocrisy and favoritism) on the Hotline tomorrow.

* I left Notre Dame atop the ballot, but there was some shuffling directly below the Irish:

Alabama moved to No. 2, displacing Oregon in the process, after it thrilling win in the SEC title game.

The victory gave Bama a clear resume edge over the Ducks: The Tide has two wins away from home over teams with 10+ wins, while Oregon hasn’t beaten anyone with 10+ wins.

In fact, the Ducks have defeated only one AQ team with 9+ wins, that being Oregon State. Their other 9+ wins are over Fresno State and Arkansas State.

(Yes, that’s partly because Kansas State bailed on the scheduled home-and-home. But I don’t consider scheduling intent with regard to the ballot. If you do it for one team you have to do it for everyone.)